Data storage tape cartridges have been used for decades in the computer, audio, and video fields as a means for storing electronic files. The data storage tape cartridges continue to be a popular form of recording large volumes of information for subsequent retrieval and use, particularly in a library setting. Automated, data storage tape cartridge libraries provide access to vast amounts of electronic data by storing and managing data storage tape cartridges.
In a conventional, automated, data storage tape cartridge library system, an automation unit, such as a robotic arm or other mechanism, typically services a plurality of data storage tape cartridge locations. The automation unit selectively retrieves a data storage tape cartridge from one of the storage locations and loads the retrieved data storage tape cartridge into a designated tape drive. The tape drive reads data from or writes new data to the data storage tape cartridge. When the tape drive is finished with the data storage tape cartridge, the automation unit retrieves the data storage tape cartridge from the tape drive and returns it to the assigned storage location. A host computing system communicates with the library controlling unit to typically control the operation of the automated cartridge library. In this way, a large number of data storage tape cartridges are automatically accessible by one or more tape drives.
To manipulate a data storage tape cartridge, the automation unit typically includes an interface, such as a gripper on a robotic arm, that engages the data storage tape cartridge and allows the automation unit to convey and manipulate the orientation of the data storage tape cartridge. Because the data storage tape cartridges must be positioned in a precise manner for the robotic arm to grasp and position them correctly, the data storage tape cartridges and the storage locations are constructed with exact dimensions. Accordingly, the data storage tape cartridges that the library system houses typically have substantially similar, if not identical, form factors in order to be properly received by the interface of the automation unit.
Although conventional, automated libraries provide access to vast amounts of information, the data storage tape cartridges do not allow for true random access of files stored on the data storage tape cartridges. In particular, a conventional data storage tape cartridge consists of a tape, i.e., an elongated flexible medium having a magnetic recording layer, wound on one or more wheels or hubs. Data is recorded and retrieved by inserting the data storage tape cartridge within a tape drive and passing the recording medium in front of one or more read/write heads. The tape drives are usually streaming devices in which data is recorded in a serpentine fashion as the tape streams back and forth. In particular, the tape drive typically writes the data along a number of pin reception tracks that span the length of the medium. For this reason, data storage tape cartridges can be viewed as sequentially storing the data in a linear format.
The linear data storage format prevents true random access to individual files. Rather, a tape drive must scan through the entire length of the tape until the appropriate file mark is identified, thereby increasing the file retrieval time. Due to the lack of true random access to individual files stored within the data storage tape cartridges and the affinity for the pre-existing data storage tape cartridge library, a need exists for a data storage cartridge configured to house and protect a non-tape storage device and yet be compatible with conventional, automated, data storage tape cartridge library systems.